I declare this the best series ever. That is how I would describe the people, the issues and the dialogue at the recent LwD series. We have been in the sector for over 10 years, and this was the most interesting, most important and most consequential set of conversations we heard amongst operators. Just good people engaging with the defining problem of our time in elder housing and care.
We have noticed a shift in attitude of the RV sector to care. See our blog. What we had not previously witnessed was proactive engagement with the problem.
Now we need to be careful – this was a self selecting group – and there are many operators who do not wish to embrace the challenge. And that is okay.
What we do know is that residents are voting with their feet. RVs with embedded care are selling faster off the plan, and selling faster in resale. In part because operators like LDK, Odyssey and Anglicare are changing market expectations of what an RV should offer.
What we also know is that RV operators embracing the model are not just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. RVs with embedded care report a capital appreciation over non-care stock of 15-20%, and shorter resident tenure of 3-5 years instead of 7-10 years, as self-reported by them.
SO it stands to reason that progressive operators want to know more. And they came in numbers, with 120 attendees in each of Melbourne and Sydney and just under 100 in Brisbane.
James Wiltshire from DCM set the scene with DCMs central thesis that:
- residents will “grab a retirement living unit”,
- they will age in place and that includes receive care in their homes,
- care services under SAHP extend to high care and palliation
- regulations will prevent operators from moving residents out for high care
- residents will refuse to leave
Marie Alford from Hammond Care Innovations explained the simple steps to develop a dementia care plan ahead of it becoming a crisis in a community, with simple steps like:
- RECOGNISE the patterns of change
- RESPOND with a conversation
- CONNECT with family and care planning
In Melbourne and Brisbane Liz Jonstone from Hammond Care gave a beautiful case study of her experience and the diversionary therapist embedded at Woodbridge Retirement Village. More on that shortly.
In Sydney, Tamar Krebs from Videri spoke to their in-village hub solution, an outsourced care solution available to RV operators which has been developed in response to the demand for a true expert solution. Tamar pleaded with the operators, do what you do best and build communities, and partner with us to do what we do best and care for your residents with dementia.
James Kelly from CHC Architects, a true expert in the most current thinking on design for dementia, gave us a journey through international and local best practice. So much of what an RV can do for its residents living with dementia is a design problem and James is the first person I would call for help.
Lastly, I spoke to the technology enablers in communities. We spoke to technologies and data that help identify and monitor the disease, and the progression of the disease. We spoke to how that data enables personlised medication and treatments, and validateas the success of treatments like diversionary therapy. We spoke to technologies that make it okay to wander, as forgetfulness progresses to elopement. We spoke to correlation between sleep deprivation and diseases like Alzheimers and increased falls risk and how technologies can help reduce and detect falls. Lastly we spoke to the need for technology to help provider operators with data on which residents need help the most.
And the workshops were a critical piece of the day. Operators were challenged by Marie who moderated the sessions with simple questions.
- What are the barriers to you doing something for your residents LwD.
- What should you be responsible for, and where should it end?
- What needs to happen next.
Listening to the operators, some pain points and problems are intractable, but others can be understood and addressed. Many were emboldened to start with “brain health” education as an easy way to start the conversation in their communities without mentioning the “D” word. For some, it was just a question of safety. Even operators who were disinclined to embed care understood very clearly that this is what their residents want and need.
These dialogues were the most powerful and consequential we have heard.
But our favourite was Liz. She spoke gently and kindly about the amazing work they are doing, one resident at a time, at Woodbridge. The operator understood that 30% of his residents had some form of dementia, and implemented the most impressive response we have seen to date.
If you are looking for inspiration in this space, look at Woodbridge, speak to Hammond Care about tdhe model of therapies and care they are implementing, in an otherwise unremarkable retirement village.
Perhaps the only remarkable thing about Woodbridge is the operator. Our wish is for every operator to be remarkable.